Edoardo Ferrari-Fontana (Tenor) (Rome 1878 - Toronto 1936)

                                              with his wife Margarete Matzenauer

He turned to singing after starting a career in medicine and then working in the Italian Embassy at Montevideo. After touring South America in operetta he was encouraged by Tullio Serafin to study for opera; his début was as Tristan (Turin, 1910), and he soon established himself as the leading Italian Wagnerian tenor of his day. At La Scala he sang Pollione in Norma (1912), and the following year he appeared as Avito in the première of L᾽amore dei tre re. This he repeated, with Arturo Toscanini, at the Metropolitan in 1914, singing with a magnificent robust voice with pealing upper tones. He also appeared in Buenos Aires and was a member of the Boston Company, where he sang Tristan in 1912 (with his wife, Margarete Matzenauer, as Isolde in some performances). From 1926 he taught in Toronto. His few recordings show a voice of fine quality, compact in production, and used with taste and imagination.

Chronology of some appearances

1912 Milan La Scala Norma (Pollione)

1913 Milan La Scala L᾽amore dei tre re

1914 New York Metropolitan Opera L᾽amore dei tre re

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

 

Odeon, Milano 1909/1910

Lohengrin (Wagner): Cigno fedel 37821

Lohengrin (Wagner): Sei torna alfin 37822

Columbia, New York 1915-03-01

Tristan und Isolda (Wagner): Noto reginae a me A1731 39259

Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): Un tal gioco A 1731 39260

Gioielli della Madonna (Wolf-Ferrari):  Madonna Dei dolor  A5663 36877

Gioielli della Madonna (Wolf-Ferrari): Madonna, con sospiri A5663 36878

Otello (Verdi): Niun mi tema A5721 38235

Carmen (Bizet): Il fior A5721  37236

Edison, New York 1916-01-11

Pagliacci (Leoncavallo):  Vesti la giubba Unpubl. 4331-A

Tosca (Puccini): E lucevan le stelle 83047 4332

Edison, New York 1918-10-23

Inno di Garibaldi (Olivieri/Mercantini) 82555  6425

Edison, New York 1918-11-12

Luna Cortese (Valente) 6456-B